A court has ordered Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna; Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police, Kaduna state attorney-general and Kaduna commissioner of police to pay N40 million to Audu Maikori.

The sum is to be paid as compensation for the “wrongful” arrest and detention of the entertainment mogul between February 17 and 18 and again March 10 and 13.

Maikori had been arrested by the police on charges of incitement following a petition by the Kaduna state government over his tweet about killings in a town in southern Kaduna.

The Chocolate City CEO, who retracted the statement and apologised when he discovered it was false, later sued the governor for N10 billion for alleged gross violation of his rights.

At the federal high court, Abuja on Friday, John Tsoho, the judge handling the matter, held that his judgement was not meant to interfere with the ongoing trial of Makori in Kaduna.

He also ordered the respondents to pay the sum of N1,430 to Maikori as the cost of instituting the suit.

The judge agreed with Maikori that his right to life was violated when he was arrested in March after the police knew he was sick.

“The arrest was improper, irregular and wrongful. By necessary implication, the arrest was unlawful despite being released after 24 hours,” Tsoho held.


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